Most people have attempted to play golf and, if they’re honest, have some insight into the reasons their balls go where they happen to go. So, the golf analogy goes like this:

The golfer = addictionologist; the swing = the paradigm; the ball = the addict; the shot = the proof of the swing is in the pudding, effectiveness of the paradigm.

At the driving range the golfer puts the ball on the tee and swings. The ball slices into the water. The golfer says, “It’s the ball’s fault. New ball please.”

The golfer swings at a new ball that goes into the water again. The golfer says the same thing again. He repeats this twenty or more times with the same results. He now says, “Well, I’ve hit the ball quite well so many times. I am now an expert at golf. It’s not my fault I have such crappy balls that automatically go into the water.” The onlookers who have never played golf cheer and agree with the golf expert. They then follow the expert around the golf course and every time the ball is lost, the golfer puts a new ball down and says the same thing, “I can par this course if I had good balls.” The entourage applauds in agreement. After losing ten balls in the first three holes a man in the entourage says, “Your lousy swing is the reason you’re losing the balls, not the balls.” The entourage and the golfer ignore the man and continue to play the rest of the course without him.

At the finish of the eighteenth hole the golfing press interviews the golfer who says he shot par. No one checks the score card to see if he told the truth. The article goes into the newspaper. The ignored man writes a letter to the editor saying not only did the golfer not shoot par, if they had only checked the score card, but he actually lost fifty balls along the way. The letter is never published. The golfer goes on to write many golf books and makes a good living at it. No one ever checks his score cards. Golfers around the world read the books, hit their balls into the water, and agree that the golfer is the best expert they ever learned golf from and have never played better. The golfer gets the prize for the best golf books of the century. And so it goes. Golfers around the world continue to slice their balls into the water, every now and then hitting a fairway, and believe they can play golf without any changes in their swing, just better balls.

And the golf balls? What about them? No one seems to give a shit about them, even themselves. As far as golfers are concerned, there's always more where they came from. Right?

Sound familiar?

You can take the addiction out of the hypoic, but you can't take the Hypoism out of the addict.